This is one of the most mysterious places of Russian North. Those stone idols attract tourists from all the Russia. They stand alone on the wide plateau with no any stones or mountains around. Who built them? What for? Those questions have no answers.

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They look like they were brought there by glaciers that later retreated. Their shapes were determined by abrasion with the glaciers and later, the elements. There’s formations like in Canada and the Midwest USA.

The “Seven Strong Men” are karst pillars found in the Komi Republic, on the Manpuner range in the northern Ural mountains. Wikipedia has a very good introduction to karst topography, including a list of locations around the world.

I don’t think these natural pillars are karst, but may be more closely related to basaltic domes. To me, they resemble a “dike” of basaltic lava, associated with a long extinct and eroded volcano, similar to Shiprock, in New Mexico. the volcano chimney and any cracks fill with basaltic lava, then the entire volcano and surrounding plain erode away, exposing the harder basaltic lava. Check out Shiprock.http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/student/kuss1/shiprock.html

What are you talking about who build them? Ever heard of erosion?
What most likely happened there is that there was harder rocks inside soft rocks and the softer rock eroded away leaving those pilars. Same type of erosion can be seen all around south east Asia with limestone.

Russian stone idols in Komi? WTF? In Komi is Komi Stone Idols. Not everything, what russians got by war became russians. For example – castles in East Prussia isn’t russian castles in Kaliningrad oblast. They still crusaders order catles.

The Manpupuner (Seven Strong Men) are one of the Seven Wonders of Russia – vast stone pillars that tower over the plateau they stand on in the Komi Republic in the Urals. However, due to their location they are little visited by people from beyond Ru…

Anyone wishing to visit the Man Pupu Ner plateau and meet
7 Strong Men in person, please fill free to contact me.
I know how to get there in most comfortable and low budget
way, less expensive than any tour operators may suggest.
We have long experience of exploring the area including
rafts down the Uralian rivers, hiking in the nearby mountains and other kinds of outdoor activities.
So,join us having outdoor adventures in the Northern Ural
this forthcoming Summer.[email protected]

Internet searching gets you lots of junk and advertising, but after an hour, I found one site that suggested pressure tends to bond limestone grains together. Maybe the surrounding sediment or whatever did this with the geometry in places such that the pillars resisted later erosion. The beauty of nature is endless.

Nature does cool stuff that gets even advanced people to use it to generate mythology. Don’t forget the little green men from planet Murgatroid.